Marwyn were the first manufacturer, in 1947, to launch a series of production cars which were sold complete for £450 or as a kit of parts. Both used JAP engines. The company was based in Bournemouth and later moved to Wareham. The prototype, fitted with a Triumph twin engine, made its first appearance at the Brighton Speed Trials in September 1947 and came third in class, driven by Sir Francis Samuelson. The car suffered from having, a less than rigid, ladder chassis and relatively high ground clearance. The early Marwyn's were not very stable and "Binky" Hall was killed when his overturned while testing. Subsequently, the large motorcycle wheels were replaced by 15in wheels, lowering the centre of gravity.

An early production Marwyn

Another customer was Lord Strathcarron, a wartime RAF pilot and later a regular speaker on motoring matters in the House of Lords. He was employed as a "works" driver for weekly wage of £9 for 1948 and 1949 in spite of also being thrown from the car during a roll. Don Truman saw the failings of the first car and made a series of modifications to his, eventually becoming the Bardon Turner.

The original Marwyn as reviewed in Iota

 

An early car on the hills.

A revised, lowered, car with all new body by Gray of Emsworth (who were also responsible for much of the body for Jon Cobb's Railton land speed record car) and hydraulic brakes was produced for 1949 but Cooper and others had raised the bar by then and limited successes were achieved. 6 cars were produced but these were often modified to each owners' specification and raced under different names, for instance Denis Flather's car was christened Marrott and then Blue Flash and Jeff Sparrow's SMS.

A review of the later Marwyn from The Autocar, published in 1949:

Side view of a later Marwyn, photo courtesy of Irene Pulliblank

When the Marwyn company folded, it was taken over by Cyril Kieft who modified the design to create his own production car.